The University of Oxford is rated top in Europe (ranked 4th in the world) according to the Times Higher Education ranking of Top European Universities 2011-2012, followed by University of Cambridge in 2nd place regionally and 6th globally.

A total of 31 European universities ranked in the world's top 100 list, with 11 in the world's top 50. United Kingdom has 12 institutions ranked in the European top 100. The University of St Andrews, which is celebrating its 600th anniversary, is placed 26th in Europe and 85th globally in the guide. This follows St Andrews being named best in Scotland and 6th in the UK in the 2012 league table of UK universities published by The Sunday Times.

The top 10 European universities for 2011-2012:
Rank, Institutions, (Global Rank)
1 University of Oxford (4)
2 University of Cambridge (6)
3 Imperial College London (8)
4 ETH Zürich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (15)
5 University College London (17)
6 Karolinska Institute (32)
7 University of Edinburgh (36)
8 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (45)
9 École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (46)
10 London School of Economics and Political Science (47)
Source: Times Higher Education